January 9th, 2008Vanilla Ice continues to enjoy his music
VANILLA Ice may be seen as a joke but, nearly two decades after he became the first white artist on the rap scene, he’s still the one laughing.
Mention the name Vanilla Ice and you’re bound to hear sniggers.Even posters advertising the US rapper’s Australian tour have the word "seriously" printed after his name, lest people think it’s some kind of joke.
Not that the Ice Man — or Rob Van Winkle as his mum knows him — cares. He’s laughing all the way to the bank.
"Who cares? I don’t have an ego any more," he says from his Florida home. "It would take a lot more than that to offend me."
And to be fair, he’s copped a lot worse as the world’s first breakout white rapper.
Van Winkle shot to international stardom in 1990 with the single Ice Ice Baby, when he was a 16-year-old with a flat-top hairdo, enormous shoulder pads and baggy pants.
The single became the first hip hop song to hit No.1 on mainstream charts in the US. His rapid fall from grace also turned Vanilla Ice into something of a walking punchline.
Back then, despite topping the charts, Van Winkle was copping it from all angles. African Americans accused him of stealing black music, and Queen and David Bowie accused him of stealing their music (Ice Ice Baby sampled the hit Under Pressure).
But if you believe the tittle-tattle, they were the least of his problems at the time. Stories have circulated for years that Suge Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records, initially made his fortune by "persuading" Van Winkle to sign millions in royalties from Ice Ice Baby over to him.
According to legend, Knight dangled Van Winkle off a hotel balcony to convince him to sign.
But Van Winkle laughs at the story.
"I’m not a genius but I’m not a dumbass either," he says, explaining that when Knight turned up in his hotel room with some "friends" in 1990, he didn’t need to be dangled off a balcony before agreeing to sign over a portion of royalties.
"He was actually pretty nice about it," the rapper says.
"Yes, he illegally took money from Ice Ice Baby — whatever.
I never went to the police because I knew who he was. He was a serious guy."
On the up side, Knight used the money he scored from Van Winkle to fund recordings by then up-and-coming artists such as Tupac, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre.
"Indirectly I’ve contributed to some of the best hip hop in history," Van Winkle laughs.
He eventually reached agreement with Bowie and Queen, but found it more difficult to make peace with the music establishment. Fellow white rapper Eminem had a swipe at him, but Van Winkle is adamant he blazed the trail for Slim Shady.
"It doesn’t need to come from my words, it’s just written in history. Of course I paved the way. Before my record came along rap music was all pretty much a black audience, you know. The truth is 85 per cent of rap music sold today is to white kids."
In any case, Van Winkle says he’s at peace with things. Though his life ran off the rails in seven years of hard partying that followed his success, he made some wise investments and was still financially stable when he cleaned up his act 10 years ago.
"I tattooed a leaf to my stomach to symbolise being straight and finding my purpose in life," he says.
He’s now happily married with two daughters, aged 10 and 7. And he has an active music career.
"I’ve had three albums out since Ice Ice Baby and all of them have sold more than a million copies. I play all my new music all over the States. Most of my fans are 16 to 24. I don’t even play Ice Ice Baby."
Of course, he knows he couldn’t get away without playing the classic hit Down Under, but he also hopes to introduce his new non-radio friendly stuff to a new audience. He’s already thinking of another tour and even a move to the Gold Coast.
"I have a bunch of friends who moved over from California; I might even get me a place out there (the Gold Coast). It’s beautiful. My friend sent me pictures of Surfers Paradise. He has this place on the ocean."
In fact, Van Winkle has some surprising connections with Australia. He’s good mates with Aussie country-music star Steve Forde (who will be attending all of Van Winkle’s shows) and he has a pet red kangaroo/wallaroo cross — named Bucky Buckaroo — at his home in Florida.
Bucky made international headlines when he escaped when his owner was out of the country in 2004 and was found roaming the streets.
Van Winkle said he returned home to see coverage of the missing kangaroo on TV, but the story exploded when he claimed ownership.
"It just put a smile on everyone’s face that a kangaroo went missing and then it turned out to be Vanilla Ice’s."
Vanilla Ice, Roxanne Parlour, Level 3, 2 Coverlid Place, Jan 10, $47.50 plus booking fee. Visit www.moshtix.com
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